Captain Arios had a worried look on his face. Dealing with mercenaries and members of the Sahilid order was well within his skillset and he’d dealt with some strange folks over the years. Being confronted by the holy order of Owlana was a different story. Not to mention they seemed to be accompanied by a powerful spirit. Things were tense for him as the priest sitting opposite of him finished his explanation. The group sitting in front of him, all orderly and quiet, consisted of seven priests, the head priest and the spirit. “Thus, by declaration of the Lady of Knowledge, we will take control of this camp and lead an expedition into the ancient dungeon. I appreciate your understanding.” The priest had introduced himself earlier as head priest Danil, before launching into a long story about how they came to hear about this place and what their deity told them to do here.
The captain scratched his chin covered in stubble, which was slowly turning into a full on beard. “You understand that this request comes as a bit of a surprise to me, right? I am here on orders of the emperor of our great nation of Severanti to ensure that our people safely and successfully figure out what exactly is going on here. The law states that we can claim any found treasure as our own. Having to then hand it over to the church is not going to go over well with my men, you understand the predicament right?” He crossed his arms and looked at the priest, a middle aged man with a receding hairline.
The head priest nodded. “Of course I understand the predicament, and I wish for an amicable resolution to this quandary. Any treasure found within this dungeon that is of no significant value to our Lady will be yours to keep, but I say this knowing full well that those things with the highest value will likely not fall into that category.”
Captain Arios smiled. “I appreciate your honesty in this matter, although it does not change the problem, at least it lets us discuss things properly.” He looked over at the spirit, who looked like a young girl if not for the fact that some of her features were much sharper and stranger than those of any regular young girl. “Spirit whose name I do not know, may I presume you are here on orders of the holy order of Owlana as well?”
The spirit looked up at the captain. “I am the spirit of music, Kimi’Thania. You can call me Kimi. I came here to investigate this place when I found out it might have ties to a spirit of music that lived a very long time ago.”
Why is she lying? When he first heard about her, it was due to a scuffle with some of his men. He then heard about her again from Mirgia, who just headed into the dungeon earlier that day, and from what he said it seemed like something completely different was going on. She would have only just arrived in the region a couple days prior. He thought for a moment, but didn’t think it wise to call out the discrepancies in her story. He would speak with her later. Dealing with the priest was going to be enough of a headache on its own. Letting out a deep sigh, he answered the priest’s request. “Look, my job here is to keep things from getting out of hand. If arguments break out between your party and my men, I will do what I can to mediate, but anything that is found and taken from the dungeon before you get there is out of my jurisdiction. I would ask that you act in understanding that the men and women who have already journeyed into this strange place do so at risk of life and limb.”
“So a group is already inside?” Kimi asked. She seemed eager to learn more.
Arios nodded. “A few of my own men are joined by some locals as well as an elven fellow who showed up the other day.” He purposefully withheld MIrgia’s name for the time being.
Kimi’s surprise didn’t go unnoticed although she seemed to attempt to cover it up quickly.
“Either way,” he continued, “could you give me the benefit of the evening to consider what to do from here on out? We’ll reconvene in the morning and I’ll have my answer at the ready. Until then you are of course free to use one of our tents as well as the mess tent.”
Priest Danil looked as if he wanted to argue, but then held his tongue and nodded. “I understand that we arrived very suddenly and the laws of this land do not prohibit your Sahilid from raiding for artifacts ahead of time, but the relationship between the church of Owlana and the emperor of Severanti is one of mutual respect, I would hate for that to be broken. But keeping that in mind, I will take you up on your hospitality and take my rest. It’s been a long day on the road after all.”
“By all means, make yourselves at home. As long as you are in my camp, you are under my protection.” He reached out his hand.
The head priest hesitantly shook it, then smiled. “I appreciate it.”
“You wanted to talk?” Captain Arios asked. He had just finished cleaning his gear and preparing his bedroll and went for a stroll around the perimeter of the camp before going to bed.
The spirit that accompanied the priest and his party had been hovering around him for the past hour, seemingly debating if she should go up to him or not. Getting tired of the movement in the corner of his eye, he’d walked up to her.
“You said something about an elven traveler?”
He nodded.
“Just out of curiosity, did you catch his name?”
He held his silence for a few moments before replying. “If I answer your question, will you tell me what is really going on?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, but he could see the doubt in her face. She was hiding something.
“Then I have no obligation to tell you the names of the people I sent into the dungeon. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll return to my tent.” He started to walk away before she called out to him.
“Wait.”
He turned around expectantly. She looked around the area nervously for a few moments. “Something strange is going on. I only got here the other day.”
Arios nodded. “Mirgia said something similar, about being teleported here after falling into a strange trap.”
Kimi’s eyes lit up. “So Mirgia is here after all?”
“He is, he’s one of the people who went into the dungeon.”
Kimi waited for a moment before nodding. “Very well, I’ll tell you what I think.” She sat down on the ground, crosslegged and Arios felt obliged to do the same.
“So when I woke up after falling into a similar trap that it seems Mirgia fell for, I found myself being harassed by some mercenaries. They wore similar attire to yours.”
Captain Arios nodded. “Sahilid mercenaries, we’re part of the same group, although I suspect they didn’t treat you well.”
“That’s one way to put it. After putting them all to sleep, I went on my way to search for a way home, when I ran into Danil and his group. He told me that they were going into this dangerous dungeon soon and would love to have the blessing of a spirit. I told him I would consider it but honestly I wasn’t convinced. When I stayed in their camp, I saw one of his men do something that gave me pause. I won’t go into details, but I think either they are pretending to work for Owlana, or part of their group is not who they say they are. I decided to stick around to find out more and I’m glad I did, knowing Mirgia is here too.” She sighed. “Have you heard of anyone else who was sent to this region unexpectedly?”
Arios shook his head. “I only spoke with Mirgia and heard reports about you, but I didn’t think much of it. Mirgia was sent here and arrived in the nearby village of Redsan. From there on out he came with Doroly, who is an adventurer that I had heard of before, and after two of my men got wounded by a creature that came out of the dungeon he promised he would help out the group that went into the dungeon, mainly to protect the nearby village.”
“That sounds like him. I hope he’s alright in there.”
“There’s some good people accompanying him, at the very least he should have a fighting chance to deal with whatever they might encounter in that strange dungeon.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m curious how these priests will do in the same situation, but I should be relatively safe. I have learned some pretty useful magic tricks throughout the years.”
“Can I ask you a favor then?” Captain Arios asked.
“That depends, what would you ask of me?”
“I don’t like the way these priests force their rights upon us. As if they own the dungeon or something, pushing us aside. Would you keep an eye on them while you’re in there and make sure that everyone gets out of there safely?”
Kimi considered the question for a few moments before replying. “Isn’t forcing your way into this dungeon and pushing aside others kind of what you are doing?”
A long pause filled the space, Captain Arios being unsure how to respond to that. Finally, Kimi broke the silence again. “Either way, I would like for everyone to make it out unscathed, so I will see what I can do.”
After Kimi had gone to bed, Captain Arios found himself sitting in front of his tent, still awake, staring into the fire. It’s not like the things that Kimi said to him were incorrect or were particularly new to him, but it was definitely a bad feeling to be seen the same way as someone that feels like a threat to the public safety. Maybe the system wasn’t as sound as the people thought. He let out a deep sigh and fell onto his back, staring at the stars after the blinding light from the fire left his eyes. Maybe it was time to find a new job. One that required less people skills than this one.
Opal Kaharis 